Few in the India media industry have credentials that last as long as the very private media industry in the country itself. One such name is of the Sri Adhikari Brothers, which completes a decade of the Music Channel Mastiiiand 20 years since the launch of SAB which was founded by them in the year 2000.  

Over the past several decades Adhikari Brothers have given the Indian industry a dose of many firsts and superlative successes. The list would be too lengthy to enumerate in a single article given that they have contributed to almost all sectors of the media verticals including production of TV shows, Digital shows, print & publications, movie production, movie distribution and syndication and of course broadcast of both News and Entertainment channels, amongst several others.  

Broadcasters have writen to BARC India to report a suspected anomaly in ratings of certain news channels.
While a letter written by News Broadcasters Association (NBA) to BARC clearly mentions the unprecedented growth in TV9's ratings even when other channels show significant drop in numbers, the News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) too has expressed concerns on the possible impact of fluctuating ratings.
The NBF letter, accessed by e4M, said, “Some of our member companies, FTA news channels, solely rely on BARC for the ratings as the only currency to convert into advertising – the predominant source of revenue for our channels. Several of our channels have raised concerns over the past few weeks on the drop in ratings.”
The letter written out on Monday further stated, “On analyzing the BARC data from week of 21, we notice there is a significant change in ratings, which is a matter of grave concern for us, more so during the current pandemic-driven economic crisis, since it determines our survivability. The drop in ratings, as has been witnessed in the past five weeks, threatens our existence while it also raises issue of transparency and accountability on the BARC reporting of the FTA news genre ratings.”
According to NBF, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the following lockdown in several parts of the country, FTA news channels have invested heavily in putting in more resources to cover the situation – a fact that had been recognized by the increase in viewership, time spent, and ratings in the first eight weeks of the lockdown, by BARC. Thus a sudden drop in numbers puts the channels in a spot.
Acknowledging the 274 % increase in news genre viewership during Week 12 and 13 (Avg. Wk Imp. 8129 Million) compared to Week 2-4 (Average weekly impression 2172 million), BARC replied to NBF’s letter saying, “BARC India’s rating helps the stakeholders to make better advertisement investments and not a sole influencer of revenue to the stakeholders. BARC has received queries from some of its subscribers, including few members of NBF, and it was responded to them with our feedback based on the viewership data. BARC India, from data collection view point, do not differentiate between paid and free to air channels and the viewership data published is ‘What India Watches’”.

KOLKATA: In the age of online content platforms, knowing what consumers want has become the key to customer acquisition and retention. While these platforms have tons of data to woo the target audience, it is tough for traditional players in cable distribution ecosystem, especially multi-system operators, to have robust consumer profiling.

However, (direct-to-home) DTH players like Tata Sky have already started innovating the area and MSOs are following suit slowly. At a distribution-related panel, ‘Broadcast and distribution challenges and the road ahead’, hosted by Indiantelevision.com, all the panellists agreed that if they need to upsell or cross-sell content, a significant amount of data is needed.

NEW DELHI: In the post-Covid2019 world, measuring the efficacy of advertising spends will become even more critical for companies as they navigate their recovery given the significant pressure of their cash flows and liquidity positions. How can the various M&E segments respond to these enhanced requirements on attribution? How can measurement become timelier and more precise for brands? Addressing these questions at the 21st edition of FICCI Frames, industry members discussed the ‘Attribution at the forefront of the conversation.’

This July, Bhojpuri movie channel Zee Biskope is treating its viewers with a host of monsoon memories. The Sawan celebrations have begun with two film festivals: Sawandaar Somwar Cinema and Aaaya Sawan Choom Ke.

Call for entries open for BuzzInContent Awards 2020 

Traditionally, each of the Mondays in Sawan are celebrated as Sawan Ka Mahasomvaar and devoted to the worship of Lord Shiva. Zee Biskope’s film festival Sawandaar Somwar Cinema, a five-week celebration, will feature five blockbuster movies being telecasted in each of the Sawan Mondays at 6:30 pm from July 6 to August 3 along with one World Television Premiere. The celebration began with ‘Sher Singh’ on July 6, which features Pawan Singh and Amrapali Dubey, followed by ‘Nirahua Chalal London’ on July 13 starring Nirahua and Amrapali Dubey and ‘Ghoonghat Me Ghotala’ starring Parvesh Lal and Mani Bhattacharya on July 20.

Though the government is batting for a regulatory structure for OTT platforms, the industry is pitching for an overall of the broadcasting sector, which includes removing unnecessary regulatory hurdles.

Call for entries open for BuzzInContent Awards 2020 

During a panel discussion at the e-version of Ficci Frames, industry veterans said over-regulation has nearly killed the sector.

“Regulators should help linear television by deregulating it instead of focusing on regulating OTT content so that there is a balance there,” said Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP News Network, at Day 2 of e-Ficci Frames 2020. Pandey also said the over-regulations have made it impossible for them to sell pay channels and caused an over-dependence on advertising. Pandey said the micro-management of the industry must stop.  “You don't do it for any other industry so why are you doing it for television?” he said.

Leading general entertainment channel Colors is getting fresh programming back on TV in full force as it plans to have new content available between 7 pm and 10 pm on weekdays and between 8 pm and 10 pm on the weekends.

Call for entries open for BuzzInContent Awards 2020 

Talking about the impact of the lockdown on viewership habits of audiences, Manisha Sharma, Chief Content Officer, Hindi Mass Entertainment, Viacom18, said there has been a significant shift when it comes to content consumption habit of the audiences and it will take some time before things get back to the pre-Covid levels. The channel, she said, is tailoring new content keeping the evolved consumer preferences in mind.

Mumbai: SonyLIV augments its offerings with back to back sporting spectacles starting 8th July 2020. From international cricket to the best of football to the biggest basketball sensation and more, SonyLIV’s live sports portfolio is brimming with the best of tournaments for all sports aficionados in India.

The cricket season begins today. First up is a clash between England and West Indies, marking the return of International cricket with 3 consecutive Test series. Interim captain Ben Stokes will lead England against the visitors boasting off a bunch of power hitters captained by Jason Holder for the 33rd Time in Test Cricket. Quite interestingly, Jason Holder is also the World’s no 1 Test all-rounder who will look to retain his position against Stokes who comes a close second. All three-Test series will be streamed live at 3:30 PM (IST) on SonyLIV in India. This will be followed by England vs Ireland starting July 30.

It has been just about a month that Free To Air (FTA) channels of some major networks made a comeback to the DD Free Dish platform and the industry is already talking about how these have been a big draw for advertisers lately.  

According to data from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), Star India’s FTA general entertainment channel, Star Utsav, has emerged as the most watched channel across genres and platforms in Week 25 and has garnered over one billion impressions (1022807 (000s) impressions).

The channels who came back on Free Dish on June 3 after winning MPEG-2 slot bids include Zee Anmol, Sony Pal, Star Utsav and Colors Rishtey. They had pulled out of the platform last year post the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) coming up with a new tariff regime.

Mexican waves, boisterous applause and an edge of the seat adrenaline; the joy of witnessing live sports is unmatchable. This monsoon, SonyLIV augments its offerings with back to back sporting spectacles starting 8th July 2020. From international cricket to the best of football to the biggest basketball sensation and more, SonyLIV’s live sports portfolio is brimming with the best of tournaments for all sports aficionados in India.